In Europe, the revolutionary transformation of the ruling systems
and state structures began with a bang: In 1789 the French
Revolution broke out in Paris, and its motto "Liberte, Egalite,
Fraternite"—Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood—took on an irrepressible
force. A fundamental reorganization of society followed the French
Revolution. The ideas behind the revolution were manifest in
Napoleon's Code Civil, which he imposed on many European nations.
The 19th century also experienced a transformation of society from
another source: The Industrial Revolution established within society
a poorer working class that stood in opposition to the merchant and
trading middle class. The nascent United States was shaken by an
embittered civil war. The economic growth that set in following that
war was accompanied by the development of imperialist endeavors and
its rise to the status of a Great Power.

Liberty Leading the People,
allegory of the 1830 July revolution that deposed the French
monarchy,
with Marianne as the personification of liberty,
contemporary painting by Eugene Delacroix.

Persia and Afghanistan

CA.
1800-1914

Competition between Great Britain and Russia over control of the
"Asian hub" heavily influenced the history of Afghanistan and Persia in
the 19th century. Russian plans for expansion in southern Asia presented
a threat to India, the "crown jewel" of the British Empire. The European
powers were threatening Persia and Afghanistan externally and striving
for influence internally, destabilizing regimes in both countries. The
discovery of oil in Persia in 1908 raised the stakes, but Afghanistan
managed to secure a degree of autonomy as a buffer state between the
Russian Empire and British India.

Persia: Dependency on the British and Russians

Two great powers, Great Britain and Russia, vied for control of
Persia, and this was reflected in the increasing influence of these two
on Persia's internal politics.

Fath Ali, the shah of Persia, suffered numerous defeats at the hands
of the Russians during his reign. In the treaties of Golstan in 1813 and
Turkmanchay in 1828, the Persians lost all their possessions in the
Caucasus.

In the 1870s and 1880s, the 1 Russians again put further
pressure on the country, occupying the Persian territories east of the
Caspian Sea and south of the Aral Sea, and in 1884 the area around Merv.

1 Reception in the Russian embassy in Teheran in the 1830s

The internal strains grew as well.

2Shah Nasir ad-Din, who had traveled
throughout Europe, pursued a cautious reform policy during his 1848-1896
reign, which introduced a measure of European liberal thought into his
country.

Great Britain had a particularly strong interest in and
influence over the Persian economy. Asa result, the shah was forced to
contend with powerful pro-British merchants who opposed the autocratic
system and demanded a hand in decision making, while any concessions to
reform were met with accusations of Europeanization from the influential
Shiite clerics.

Since the 1840s, the shah had been fighting the Bab movement, which
later gave rise to the 3 Baha'i faith.

He used harsh measures against
this Islamic offshoot group and almost completely eradicated its
followers after an attempted assassination in 1852.

Internal tension grew with every concession the shah made to the
British, who, for example, demanded permission to build a railroad and
industrialize the country. The granting of the tobacco trade monopoly to
Britain provoked widespread protest. In October 1906, the shah was
forced to summon a national assembly and establish a constitution,
turning Persia into a constitutional monarchy.

Shah Muhammad Ali, who
came to power the following year, attempted to reverse these changes,
but 4 unrest and rebellions forced him to abdicate.

When Russia and
Britain signed the Anglo-Russian Entente of 1907 in St. Petersburg, they
divided Persia into respective zones of influence which they proceeded
to occupy in 1909.

2 Shah Nasir ad-Din

3 Abdu'l-Baha, son of the founder of
the religion of the Baha'i,
preaching
the Baha'i faith in Constantinople

4 Rebel fighters during the unrest that
led to Muhammad Ali's abdication
in 1907

Oilfields in Persia

Oil reserves were first discovered in Persia in 1908, and within a year
the first processing refinery had been built. The Anglo-Persian Oil
Company developed oilfields in the southwestern province of Khuzestan on
the Persian Gulf, which today is thought to have more than 10 percent of
the world's known oil reserves.

The British government secured a
controlling interest in the company and occupied the region on the
pretext of securing its commercial interests, which had previously been
designated as "neutral territory" in an agreement with Russia.

However,
the British attempt to gain complete control of the country and the oil
in the following decades failed, partly due to the hostility of the
Persian population to foreign occupation.

Oilfield in Baku

Afghanistan: Precarious Independence

The Russians and British effectively neutralized each other in
their struggle for strategic hegemony in Central Asia, thus permitting
Afghanistan a precarious independence.

Ahmad Shah Durrani, who ascended to the throne in 1747, founded what
is today known as Afghanistan. He expanded it in all directions,
particularly into northern India. However, the empire had collapsed
completely by 1818 due to internal divisions. In 1826, Dost Muhammad
Khan captured Kabul and established a new emirate, which soon presented
a threat to the interests of the British and Russians.

After Dost Muhammad opened 5 negotiations with the Russians, the British
took the initiative and marched in.

5 An Afghan diplomatic envoy with
his entourage, Russia, 1830s

During the First Anglo-Afghan War of
1838-1842, the British seized Kandahar and Ghazni. Shah Shuja, a
grandson of Ahmad Shah Durrani, was installed as a sovereign acceptable
to the British. A counterattack by Akbar Khan, son of Dost Muhammad,
proved successful, and the British troops were forced to withdraw. Dost
Muhammad once again took over his emirate, and the conflict ended
peacefully with the Treaty of Peshawar in 1855.

When 6Shir Ali Khan decided to resume dialogue with Russia in 1878 and
refused to accept British representation in Kabul, the British army once
again invaded Afghanistan.

6 Shir Ali Khan gives instructions to
his men during the Second
Anglo-Afghan War of 1878-1879

This time, there was no reaction from the
Afghans to the conquest of 9 Kabul during the
8 Second Anglo-Afghan War
of 1878-1879.

9 Conquest of Kabul by British forces in 1879

8 Fortress occupied by British troops
on the frontier with the Russian
empire

In the 10 Treaty of Gandamak that ended the war, Yaqub Khan
permanently conceded the 7 Khyber Pass and other territories to Great
Britain; the British made guarantees of protection from foreign
aggression but retained the right to import British products and control
Afghan foreign affairs.

In 1893, the Durand Treaty fixed the frontiers
of Afghanistan with British India, which forms the present
Afghan-Pakistan border.

In 1907 Afghanistan became independent indirectly, when Russia and Great
Britain reached an agreement to abandon territorial claims there.
Afghanistan effectively became a buffer state between the two major
powers, and despite the Anglo-Russian alliance, Kabul remained neutral
during the First World War. Britain, however, retained its influence in
the country, and especially Afghan foreign policy, until 1919, when the
heir to the throne was assassinated due to resentment of the pro-British
stance of the monarchy.

10 Signing of the Treaty of Gandamak, May,1879

7 Summit of Mount Hindukush

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